Tea and Biscuits Book Discussions: Goodreads Vs. Storygraph Move

Tea and Biscuits Book Discussions is a feature here on Addicted To Romance where there is talk of books, blogging, and reading topics….so come on in and join in on the discussion

So I have seen much talk of Storygraph of late, and especially recently I have seen more and more people start to move over there from Goodreads. I think some of this evolution is due to StoryGraph going from beta mode to full mode and will even have a plus plan. Now when I first saw Izzy’s video (romance booktuber) on StoryGraph I was intrigued but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it, and wanted to wait till it got out of beta mode to see its full range of features. I do not think they have come close to their full potential. This is such a new project but there are many of us that have issues with Goodreads and want a change.

I personally don’t have too many issues with Goodreads, there are some elements to the website that I do like….their social platform is great (I never have to worry about running into politics or its very rare which is nice when its all over my social media) And I really love discussing books with other fellow book lovers on there. They have some fantastic involved group communities and their listopia is fantastic. BUT I also have other issues. I am not a fan of them being owned by Amazon, the ads are annoying at times, their choice awards are basically a popularity contest and have no reflection on the book community as a whole, and their shelves are horrid. Its one of the biggest reasons I have used LibraryThing (even if that interface is highly outdated even more than Goodreads) I do love the way that you can shelve and organize your books on LT. Because I seem to always be missing books on my Goodreads shelves, or it reorders it weird and quite frankly is chaotic in many ways at least for me. But hey if you can make it work for you ….I applaud your genius because I just can’t. LOL

So what does StoryGraph have that Goodreads doesn’t? Or how is it any better than Goodreads? How does it beat it in any way?

Well to be honest it doesn’t in some ways, because it is evolving and growing. But I am seriously thinking at least switching my shelving and recommendations to this site. I still like the strong social aspect of Goodreads, so unless that changes with StoryGraph, I will be staying and using both site on a regular basis. But there are many elements that I am loving about the StoryGraph site.

1. Clean Interface-I LOVE the aesthetics of the site. Its something I really wish both Goodreads and LibraryThing would have in their sites. And I think this is what is drawing many people over to it.
2. Recommendations-I am actually learning to really like this aspect. Now I don’t have that many currently, but the more I add in my “moods” for the books I read, the better they get.
3. Stats-I am in love with their stats page and seeing the charts that they display depending on your reading for the year.
4. Tagging Platform-Organizing your shelves has never been so easy with this site. I love how organic it is. And I have a feeling that will only grow in its capabilities. So much easier than GR by far.
5. Adding Books-Now if you don’t see a book, you can easily add it in. Which is the problem I have had with other bookish alternatives like Book Hype where you couldn’t add in books especially those that are indie published. So I do love this feature.
6. Reading Challenges-They have this whole section just for challenges. Where there are hundreds of various challenges to choose from or you can even create your own and they even have tagged books for many of them so its also a great way to find books to read.
7. Transferring Goodreads Date-Now I am impatient and I had heard this could take a few days to do, but I have huge shelves and it only took a couple of hours so I was impressed. I think its depends on the time of day you do it. I did it in the middle of the night before going to bed, so I think that helped. Now I will have to clean up my shelves up a bit but for the most part the transfer went very smoothly. .
8. Ratings-This is one of the BEST features of this site. You can rate not only just 1-5 but it has point system of .25, .50, .75,. so I like how flexible these ratings are

Now those are my top favorites to this, but lets talk about the cons

Lack of social interaction—the social interaction with others on this site is minimal at best. You can follow others, and like their reviews but that is pretty much it. There is no way to message others and comment on their reviews. Not sure if the social platform will build in this site or if it will remain more private. I don’t mind the private feel to it at times, but I think what will keep many readers with Goodreads is the social platform. But I do think this element many readers will find refreshing in some ways.

Lack of Profile or Social Links—Its really just your profile pic and your books that are displayed. There isn’t any bio or links to put in. So this is a downside for me, and I hope this changes in the future. But the site is still really new and fresh, so having hopes they will adapt that element in the future.

Paid Feature-there is a portion of the site that is coming up that you have to pay for. Its pretty much like $3/month, so its not a whole lot, but this will be a draw back to some. Not sure I will be using plus, but I might try it out if I end up using the site consistently, and this feature will be releasing next month so I am curious to see what it will contain. And I am all for supporting these founders through this.

Overall I am really impressed with this site after really giving it a chance, and I am excited to see where it goes in the near future. If anything else, it will be a great site to shelve my books in the way that I prefer and find some solid recommendations.

So if you are curious about The StoryGraph and would like to try it out….click HERE to sign up and explore the site and see what you think.

So tell me what are your thoughts on this site? Have you tried it? Will you be switching, using both or not for you? Let me know in the comments below!